In the eyes of a model kit, all modelers are equal.

March 2017

03/14/2017

I've promised that I'd post a few photos...well, here they are. I hope y'all enjoy them!

Hasegawa's 1/72 scale DAP Beaufighter 21. I built this one to illustrate my "Model Building 101" seminar at the 2016 IPMS/USA National Convention we hosted in Columbia.

A Revell AG 1/72 MiG-21 F-13 Fishbed E, built as the subject of Operation Have Doughnut. I used the Vallejo Metal Color acrylics on this one, and I really like this paint. The best acrylic metallics I've tried, to be sure!

Dragon's 1/35 StuG.IV. Yep, this is the subject of a 2010 AMPS Central South Carolina group build. Yes, it still isn't finished. But it is painted now, and hopefully I'll have some time to wrap it up.

Hasegawa's 1/72 F-111F, to be finished as Karma-52, the aircraft shot down in Operation El Dorado Canyon. I'm a little further along from when the photo was taken--I have the beastie primed and paint is in work.

Special Hobby's 1/72 TR-1/ER-2 in progress. This one, too, is further along--I have it in gray primer now. There are a bunch of fiddly things to be added, then I can paint and finish it up.

Another Special Hobby kit, this time their 1/48 Macchi C.200. This is waiting for another attempt at a paint job. Wish me luck--third time is the charm, so they say!

Dragon's 1/700 USS Independence being converted to USS Cowpens. I have some fiddly bits to bend (see my earlier essay on PE and how it is the work of Satan) and paint.

Aeroclub's Gloster Gamecock in 1/48 scale. First vac kit in a loooooong time, but I'm having fun with it.

A recent completion--Academy's reissue of the Hobbycraft Bf-109T-2. I built this one in about three hours so I could use it as the subject of an airbrushing clinic at the hobby shop. I think it came out well-there are some errors, both Academy's and my own, but it looks nice on the shelf...

Last one for now. Here is a Revell AG 1/72 F4U-1 Corsair (white) and an Otaki (actually, Arii-boxed) 1/48 F4U-1 Corsair (gray). I'm trying to bring the Arii (now Micro Ace--you need a program to keep up!) line into the shop, and wanted to have something to show folks what they got in the kit. I spied the Revel kit, and it has the same markings I plan on using on the Otaki kit, so I thought I'd do a two-fer and have an illustration of scale to go along with the deal.

So, there you are.

Thanks for reading. As always, be good to one another. I bid you Peace.

03/08/2017

The hobby shop was sold about a month ago. It is a good thing, we think--the new owner is local, he owns several other businesses, and he actually listens to what we tell him. He has introduced (and reintroduced) several Radio Control products that this store hasn't seen in years, and he's got great ideas on how to build the business.

Along those lines, I wanted to revisit the selection of plastic models we carry. We do well with armor--the local AMPS Chapter meets here every month--and we hold our own with cars. Airplanes, on the other hand, are a mixed bag. We try to get the latest and greatest into the store, which works well when we can meet online pricing. On the other hand, staples--like P-40's, P-51's, Me-109's, Phantoms, etc.--tend to take a back seat.

In my efforts to try and have a little something for everyone, I actually ordered a high-low mix of popular subjects--one low-cost kit and one "Premium" kit. Along those lines, one of the mainstays of the hobby throughout the years have been the old Monogram 1/48 scale kits. We carry them--the P-51D, the P-40B, the Zero, etc.--but the prices, like the prices on pretty much everything, have ratcheted up to the point where those kits I used to buy as a kid for $1.98 now run close to $17-$18. While I like the fact that they are nice kits, many of them are long in the tooth--their age is starting to show, with ill-fitting parts, flash, and poor (or non-existent) detail in the cockpit and gear wells. What to do, what to do...

Anyone who has been building model airplanes since the 1970's will recognize the name Otaki. They produced a series of World War Two fighters in 1/48th scale that were, in a word, superb for the day--some of them are still superb to this day, to tell the truth. So, the plan was this--whenever there was a choice between a 1950's-era Monogram kit and a 1970's-era Otaki kit, i would opt for the Otaki kit for the store shelves.

Now, Otaki went under in the late 1970's/early 1980's, and the line had been picked up by Arii. They have also been seen in AMT, Matchbox, and Airfix boxes. They're still decent kits, but I had one problem--not one of the stateside distributors we deal with carries them. Again, what to do...

The answer came, in part, when we were looking to beef up and update our Gundam models. The main U.S. distributor gets the tail end of the Japanese production run, so a lot of the more desirable Gundams don't reach us. We were discussing this issue when the idea of buying direct from Japan came up. Well, we started the process with a rather large online shop that many of you may have dealt with in the past. We were instructed to place an initial order...

Given the green light, I started to search for stuff we couldn't get anywhere else. The first thought I had was to find those old Otaki kits, or die trying. After a short while, I found these kits under the Micro Ace label--same Arii box art, they even carry the Arii nametag. What astounded me was the price. The pricing on these kits hasn't changed much since the last time I saw them sitting on the shelf at Warrick Custom Hobbies, which is a fair shade less than we can get the ancient Monogram kits for on a good day. So, with that in mind, I placed the entire line on the order. I mean, for the price, why not? Granted, when they were under the Otaki badge they had a neat color plate and decals for two subjects, but I think they'll fill the bill nicely.

One of the things that confounds me up here in the Greater Upper Midlands Co-Prosperity Sphere is that there are a good many modelers here, but few of them know anything outside their own personal comfort zone. Introducing a line of kits that are foreign to them may prove troublesome. So, in order to show people what these kits are like, I decided to put a few on display in the showcase. I built a Hellcat a few years ago, ostensibly as the object of a stillborn model building class I wanted to host at the shop. But I also remember one of their F4U-1 Corsair kits I had kicking around on top of the pile closest to the workbench. I think I had it first, then gave it to my wife (who purchased a Verlinden resin set for the Tamiya kit and the Squadron vac canopies), who gave it back to me when I wasn't watching. Rather than let it decompose into dust, I took it off the pile and started to build it. It was much as I remembered from the example I built in 1981 or so--very basic, but convincing cockpit, anemic engine, good basic shape and proportions...

Those last things--basic shape and proportion--are what I really grade a kit on. I can add, change, or embellish details, but I don't like having to rework shape and dimensional issues. So, with the kit in hand, I started to engineer how I was going to add the Verlinden parts to the kit. After about an hour, I had the cockpit and engine constructed and ready to install. A quick shot of paint, and some glue, and I had the fuselage zipped up. As the model sits now, basic carcass construction is complete. I need to add the horizontal tailplanes and landing gear, fill a few gaps,. sand, buff, and burnish, and add paint. In the space of about two and a half hours, I have remembered why I enjoyed these kits back in the day. Hopefully, I'll get a new audience to share that opinion. Even out of the box, they build into quite nice models...

I'll post photos of the completed model once I'm done.

_________________________________________________

Along with the Otaki Corsair, I came upon the 2014 Revell AG 1/72 F4U-1 kit. While nowhere near as nice as their MiG-21 F-13, it builds up fairly well. I don't usually do these airplanes in 1/72 scale, but since the kit comes with the same markings the Otaki kit will wear, I thought a nice Scale Display would be in order. Photos once it is complete...

_________________________________________________

Along with the sale of the hobby shop, I have been brought out of my year-long "temporary retirement" from the world of avionics. I'll be working from home most of the time, but I'll have to do a little traveling every now and then. The job is the same--but different--than my last employment stop. The basic work is similar, only some of the details and responsibilities have changed. I'm honestly looking forward to the challenges this opportunity will offer. For those of you who have been involved in aviation, I don't need to explain. For those of you who have not worked in the field, there is no explanation that will adequately describe just how much it gets into your blood...

__________________________________________________

When I get some time, I feel a stash reduction is in order, and that right soon. I've been meaning to do a bit of SIDNA pruning since this time last year, but I was kid of busy, what with the AMPS International Show and the IPMS/USA National Convention duties I signed up for. As I get older, I realize that those kits bought with youthful enthusiasm and grand intent are not going to be built--or at least some of them won't. So, better to find them new homes with folks that will do them justice rather than sit in our upstairs workshop and collect dust...

______________________________________________________

That's all I have for now. Thanks for reading, and as always, be good to one another. I bid you peace...